The Crystal That Shines Within
by Yunagirlamy
Summary: Crystal Taylor is quite the curious girl. Like her mother and father before her, she wants to explore other worlds—but, along with her best friend, is stuck on Destiny Islands. What happens when fate comes knocking, in the form of a fourteen-year-old boy?
1. I Just Want To Escape

**Author's Notes: The third rewrite of this story! Yeah, I saw that were some plot holes in the story, and plus, it was moving along too quickly. Rewriting it has been playing on my mind for quite some time now. I hope this is better than the two previous ones. It should be better written and make more sense. **

**Summary: Crystal Taylor is quite the curious girl. Like her mother and father before her, she wants to explore other worlds—but, along with her best friend, is stuck on Destiny Islands. What happens when fate comes knocking, in the form of a fourteen-year-old boy?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my original characters. **

**-- is a scene change or a different point of view. **

**Enjoy!**

**Prologue: I Just Want To Escape**

**--**

Crystal Taylor is quite the curious girl. She is more curious than any other teenage girls are in her class. All the other girls gossip about who is going out with who; what they wore the night before. What they _did_ the night before. None of that appeals to Crystal though. When she is _supposed_ to be doing her work, she will gaze out the window with her crystal blue eyes (hence her name) and sigh softly. Then her best friend Summer will wave her hand in front of Crystal's face and make Crystal, instead of wondering what is out there, devote her attention on her work, especially if she "wants to get a good future".

_Future_.

The word that has gained a special place in Crystal's vocabulary. See, words that have a special place in Crystal's vocabulary are the words that are often coming out of Crystal's mouth. For example: "So… do you think the _future_ will hold anything special? Do you think it will be full of _light_? Or maybe _darkness_…"

But that's enough rambling about her vocabulary. Back to her curiousness.

Walking home from school, Crystal always gazes at her surroundings. She always views the same old, _boring_ things—houses. With a few palm trees surrounding them. Crystal sighs and knows one day, she'll see something different.

'_Not in this form,' _Crystal thinks. Her parents are very protective of their thirteen-year-old and are adamant not to let her leave the safety of Destiny Islands. Maybe not even when Crystal is a fully-grown woman, capable of looking after herself. Crystal knows they're protective for a reason; something terrible must have happened in their past—and that something terrible must not have taken place on Destiny Islands. Thinking about that makes Crystal curious about her parents' past. Maybe one of them was kidnapped. Crystal doesn't know—she will one day, though.

Crystal will finally reach her own home, where her protective parents are waiting for her. Her mother preparing to fire questions at her about her day, no doubt. Her father jokingly asking if any boys caught her fancy. As usual, Crystal will huff; dump her school bag onto the floor and rush upstairs to get changed out of her awful school uniform. It's only awful in Crystal's eyes—to the rest of the girls (excluding Summer) and the boys at school, it's a great uniform.

Crystal slowly walks up the path of her home and opens the front door. As soon as Crystal is through it, her mother comes racing out of the living room, firing questions at her young daughter.

"Hi sweetie! How was your day? Do anything interesting? You didn't get in trouble, did you?"

"Fine. No and no."

Crystal avoids her mother's eyes as she answers and brushes past her into the kitchen. She dumps her bag by the small fridge and opens it looking for something to fill her empty stomach. As she does, her father enters the kitchen, and leans on the counter which is the fridge is located under.

"So, see any boys that you fancy today?"

Crystal doesn't even bother looking up. She shouldn't even bother answering, but that is the only way which her father will leave her alone—with any luck, anyway.

"No."

"Aww, that's a shame. You know, I was only a year older than you when I started to see your mother in different way…"

'_Off he goes again…'_

Her father usually rambles on how he met his wife.

Crystal doesn't see anything that she fancies, and closes the fridge door. Her father still rambling on. Crystal isn't listening. She's learned to block it out.

"… and so one day, I told her straight out, that I love her."

"Fascinating," Crystal replies. Her voice is _dripping_ with sarcasm. Her dear father is too naïve to notice, though. Crystal wonders if her father was born naïve or if he had an accident one day where he bumped his head. Crystal chose the first choice, as it was more likely.

"How's Summer?"

Crystal blinks in surprise. That's a new one. Since when has her father started taking interest in her friend? Maybe it's to get more involved in his daughter's life.

"Summer's… fine."

"Oh, that's good to hear."

Crystal pulls a puzzled face and hastily rushes out of the kitchen, to upstairs and into the safety of her room. She sits down on her bed, and reaches under. Crystal pulls out a purple book with a pink sash tied around it. She puts it on her bed and then stands up. She walks over to where her clothes are hanging on a metal pole, fixed into the wall. Crystal chooses to wear a low-cut v-neck mini dress, a white t-shirt underneath it, and black leggings.

Once Crystal has changed, she takes a glance out the window. She sees the ocean. The ocean is Crystal's only escape off this island. Crystal shakes her head; knowing it isn't going to happen in her near future. She sits down on her bed, and crosses her legs. She picks up a biro pen from her beside table, and unwraps the sash off her book. Crystal, in neat handwriting, begins writing in the book.

"_Thursday the 16__th__ of April. Today has been the same old, same old. This morning was especially boring. Mum and dad were asking me if everything is fine at school. I just shrugged my shoulders and ate my breakfast. They really shouldn't invade in my life like they are. It's not right. I don't think they would like it if I kept asking them about their life. Sigh. After breakfast, I watched the television—even though there was nothing even remotely interesting on. However, my parents didn't come in the living room, so I was fine. Summer called for me as usual, and we walked to school together. She was rambling on about some boy that she fancies. I was listening, just not answering her. Boys… they don't interest me. They're all stuck-up, and think highly of themselves. My dad was probably the same when he was younger. _

_My teachers were boring—especially my geography and maths ones. I swear, as soon as you move to high school, the teachers become more boring. I've been stuck with these teachers since I was eleven. Oh well. I only have until Year Eleven and then I'm free from school. I won't be free from my parents, though. _

_God, they act as if I am a little child, unable of performing any task. They need to get it into their heads that I am a thirteen-year-old teenager. _

_When I'm eighteen, I'll be independent. You watch. I'll do what I've always wanted to do._

_I just want to escape."_

With a sigh, Crystal stops writing and closes her diary. She stands up, walks over to her window, and rests her arms on her windowsill.

"One day," she whispers, "I'll be free as a bird. Free to fly to anywhere I want to."

**--**

**PROLOUGE COMPLETE**

**Wow! I didn't think I had it in me to write like that! I surprised myself. Well, I hope you think it's great too! Yeah, it's not brilliant. It's better then the previous **_**The Crystal That Shines Within**_** though. Please review. I'd love to hear your thoughts!**

**Yunagirlamy/Soragirlamy, 18.4.09**


	2. Something's Wrong With Her

**Author's Notes: Thank you to my best friend for reviewing! I can always count on you, even if I have to threaten you to review. KIDDING! WARNING: An embarrassing issue to women is talked about in this chapter.**

**Summary: Crystal Taylor is quite the curious girl. Like her mother and father before her, she wants to explore other worlds—but, along with her best friend, is stuck on Destiny Islands. What happens when fate comes knocking, in the form of a fourteen-year-old boy?**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything except for my original characters. **

**-- is a scene change or a different point of view. **

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter One: Something's Wrong With Her**

**--**

"I'm becoming worried about her." Crystal's mother sighs and runs a hand through her red hair. "She's talking to us less and less. What if something's happening at school?"

"I'm sure the school would phone us," Crystal's father reassures, and puts a hand over his wife's. "Tell you what. I'll go talk to her, yeah. See if anything's bothering her." Crystal's mother smiles and her blue eyes sparkle with hope. Her daughter used to be so full of life. It was hard to get Crystal to sit still on a sofa. Nowadays, Crystal sits sulking with her arms crossed in a mardy manner. Whenever either of her parents tries to spark up a conversation with her, she will just stare at them with a blank look for a few seconds and then look back at whatever she was looking at originally.

Crystal's father stands up and walks over to the doorframe. Before he goes out the door, he turns to his wife and tells her comforting words. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine. We've gone through worse things than this." He gives a reassuring smile, turns and walks out the door.

He walks slowly up the stairs, as not to give himself away to Crystal. As he got further up the stairs, he could hear the familiar sound of "I'm like a Bird" blasting out from Crystal's bedroom. Crystal's father found it strange when Crystal started to listen to that song, as she never used to like it. Rather that song instead of heavy rock, drum and brass… the list goes on.

Crystal's father places a foot onto the landing and gazes towards Crystal's bedroom door. The music seems to have quietened down a bit now. Perhaps Crystal can hear her father's footsteps. With a sigh, Crystal's father steps onto the hallway and walks down to his daughter's bedroom. The music is _definitely_ quieter.

He stands there for a moment, and then places his hand on the door handle. "Crystal, can I come in?" He doesn't wait for an answer, however—he just pushes down on the handle and walks into the bedroom. Straight away, he sees that his daughter is sitting at her computer desk, playing on a game.

His daughter sighs and pauses her game. She turns round on her swivel chair with her arms folded across her chest. She narrows her eyes at her idiot of a father (how she views him anyway). "Haven't you _ever_ heard of knocking?"

"… Erm… I did… you know… erm… thingy…" Crystal's father feels nervous answering his daughter, because she is exactly like her mother when in a bad mood.

"You did _what_?" Crystal asks with irritation in her tone. She crosses her arms even tighter to show that she is not pleased.

"I did… ask," her father replies. "You know, to come in."

Crystal scoffs and turns back to her computer. "Whatever. Just knock next time."

Feeling uneasy, Crystal's father shuts the bedroom door and sits himself down on his daughter's bed. "So… how are you?" That should be a good conversation starter. It worked on his wife all the time when they were teenagers.

"I'm fine," Crystal simply replies. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I want to know how my daughter is. It's my job—"

"As my Dad, I know," Crystal interrupts. She has heard the line many, _many_ times before.

Her father simply smiles nervously, and rubs the back of his neck. "So, er…" Feeling embarrassed, he is unsure on how to ask his daughter if there is anything wrong at school. "Is there, erm…?" He notices that he is saying 'Er' and 'Erm' a lot—not a good sign, as it shows to Crystal that her father is nervous, and that will make Crystal not think very highly of her father (which she doesn't anyway). "Is there anything wrong at school? 'Cause you know you can tell me. I used to have problems at school too, ya know. They weren't bullying ones, just problems with the marks I was getting on my work and stuff like that."

Crystal sighs, pauses her game once more and turns round to face her father. Her game was getting boring anyway. "I'm _not_ getting bullied and there is absolutely no problem with my school work. I am getting on just fine in school."

Crystal's father smiles but he isn't completely convinced yet. He knows girls all too well to know that there is usually something wrong when they say that there is "nothing" wrong. "Are you _sure_, Crystal? Because I'm not sure if I'm convinced or not."

Crystal's eyes narrows and her father shrinks back in fear. He can _feel_ her eyes _burning_ through him. "You think I'm _lying_?!"

"N-No! Of course not!"

"Good." Crystal turns back to her computer. "Now go."

Her father sighs and obeys his daughter's command. He shuts the door behind him and then takes a glance at the door. _'I don't think she is lying… but I don't think she's completely telling the truth either. I believe her that is not anything wrong at school. However, I think there may be something wrong with her at home. There shouldn't be. Her mother and I are the best parents we can be. It's true that we spoil her rotten. So I don't see why anything should be wrong here. Hmm… maybe her mother might know.'_

Crystal's father makes his way downstairs and into the kitchen, where he sees his red-haired wife holding an open packet of crisps in her hands.

"Hey," he speaks, catching his wife's attention. "You gonna eat them?"

His wife smiles and then sets the crisps down on the table. "Sorry. I _was_, but then I started to think about Crystal. I was thinking, what if there's nothing at school—but _here_?"

Crystal's father sits down and leans back in his chair casually, crossing his arms. "You know, Kai, that's what I think. She said that nothing was wrong at school. So it's gotta be here." Crystal's mother nods but then a thought enters her head.

"It could be that… she's… you…" Even though she is not a teenager anymore but instead a 30-year-old woman, she stills finds it hard to say the word. "Started her… period."

"What—you think she's started?" Crystal's father uncrosses his arms and brings his chair closer to the table. He knows if what they're discussing is true and Crystal comes out of her room – which is highly unlikely – and overhears their conversation, she will become very embarrassed and have a screaming fit at her parents.

This is obviously something _both_ parents want to avoid.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised. Granted, I started before her age, but girls start between the ages of nine to sixteen." Crystal's mother lowers her voice. She knows her young daughter has _very_ quiet footsteps, and could be on the other side of the wall, listening on in.

"Maybe you should go and speak to her, Kai," Crystal's father suggests, and takes a quick glance towards the kitchen door and sighs. "Even though it probably won't do any good."

"What do you mean?"

"I hate to say this, Kai, but…"

"Yes?"

"I think Crystal… may be anti-social."

**--**

**CHAPTER ONE COMPLETE**

**Dun-dun-dun! Crystal's own dad (whose name I shall not reveal until chapter three, nor shall I reveal her mother's FULL name until chapter three) thinks she's anti-social! And what does Crystal's mum think of this? All shall NOT be revealed next chapter, because the next chapter is gonna be this chapter from Crystal's point of view, because, you know, she IS the main character of this story. So that really won't take me very long to write. Until then, ta-ra! Review please!**

**Yunagirlamy, 19.5.09. **


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